American culture vs. Italian culture, summarized in the way each spends money:
In my personal opinion, Americans (as a whole) spend their money to be comfortable and to be entertained. There is no country in the world (that I know of) with greater “ease of living.” America has been blessed with freedom and opportunity, so Americans have had the time and ability to invent things to make life easier. They have also had the time and ability to be endlessly entertained. American entertainment industry is so huge that other countries don’t come up with their own entertainment, they just dub American entertainment in their own language.
Italians on the other hand, spend their money to eat well and to look good. Yes. They eat well. Food is good, and good food is expensive (and takes TIME). In fact, I just saw this at the store the other day:
Even the dogs eat pasta here. This is raw pasta (cooks in 12 minutes) in the dog-food section.
And, I’ve seen this:
Pasta is for chickens too.
And, Italians look good. They look good even wearing the strangest styles (i.e., elastic at the bottom of sweat pants and “floods” are in here, and so are fanny packs). They may not live in the American standard of “comfortability” (i.e., not much—if any—air conditioning; marble floors that don’t ever warm up in the winter; lots of flies/mosquitoes/bugs in houses [because of lack of screens]; no dryers), but Italy is a beautiful country, and the people like to make a good impression. They want to “look good” no matter what that exterior covers up. They are overly concerned about outward appearances.
We have been told by more than one person, “If you want something that looks nice, buy Italian. If you want something that works, do NOT buy Italian.”
We believe it.
We are enjoying learning and adapting to these cultural differences, and enjoying loving and ministering to the people who form them.
Throughout all this change, we have the ease and simplicity of keeping the same authority. It’s a beautiful thing to experience the perfect applicability of God’s Word to all cultures—and to know that it has also been perfectly applicable through all time.
How did God do it? He is amazing.
Psalm 119:89-93
Forever, O Lord, your word
is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day,
for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
-smb